D-Line Highlights Oklahoma Position-by-Position Grades in Sooners' win Over Missouri

NORMAN — After pulling out two thrilling road wins late to climb back in College Football Playoff contention, Oklahoma didn’t need such late heroics Saturday.

The eighth-ranked Sooners buckled down after a rough start on both sides of the ball, knocking off No. 22 Missouri 17-6 at Gaylord Family — Oklahoma Memorial Stadium.

Oklahoma (9-2, 5-2 SEC) is now one win — next week vs. LSU — from making the CFP field for the first time since 2019 and the first time in the current 12-team format.

The position-by-position grades for the Sooners in Saturday’s win reflects plenty of good, some not-so-good and continued some trends.

Here are the grades:

Quarterback: B

It wasn’t a great start for John Mateer.

He completed just five of his first 11 passes and the final pass in that stretch was badly thrown behind Isaiah Sategna.

But then Mateer came up with a big one, connected with Sategna over the middle and the speedster was gone, racing 87 yards for a touchdown to put the Sooners in front in the second quarter.

Mateer connected with Javonnie Gibson for a touchdown later in the second, giving Mateer his first multi-touchdown game since the season opener vs. Illinois State.

Mateer’s final numbers were far from spectacular — 14-of-30 for 173 yards, but he once again avoided turnovers and made some timely plays, particular with his legs.

He finished with 18 carries for 60 yards on the ground.

Running Backs: C

At his Tuesday press conference, Brent Venables talked about the need to spread things out among the running back group a bit more.

So much for that.

Xavier Robinson was the only Sooners’ running back to get a carry.

Tory Blaylock did come into the game for at least a couple plays, but did not have a carry.

Robinson finished with 12 carries for 42 yards.

Outside of Robinson and Mateer, only receiver Deion Burks had a carry — a 2-yard gain.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends: B

Sategna turned in the game’s biggest offensive highlight, with his 87-yard touchdown catch and run in the second quarter.

Sategna showed off his high-end speed on the play, first accelerating after the catch to find plenty of open space and again turning up the heat at the end to finish off the scoring play.

But outside of that, he finished with just two catches for 22 yards.

Tight end Jaren Kanak had two catches for 24 yards, Burks two for minus-2 yards, Keontez Lewis one for 12 and Javonnie Gibson had just his 8-yard touchdown catch. Tight end Kaden Helms also had one catch for 6 yards. Burks was targeted eight times.

Part of the limitations, of course, fell on Mateer’s shoulder but there wasn’t much playmaking from the group.

Offensive Line: B-

The line didn’t exactly clear space for Xavier Robinson, but still held up fairly well against the Missouri rush.

The Tigers sacked Mateer twice.

The Sooners had just 103 rushing yards and were outgained for the fourth consecutive game.

Ryan Fodje and Derek Simmons split time at right tackle, with Simmons taking over after Fodje started.

Defensive Line: A+

Even without R Mason Thomas, the Sooners’ defensive line continues to show why they are both the strength of the defense and one of the best units in the country.

After a bit of a rough start, the group buckled down to limit Missouri running back Ahmad Hardy (57 yards) and contain Tigers quarterback Beau Pribula.

Early in the fourth quarter, Missouri was in desperate need of a scoring drive but the Sooners’ defensive line snuffed out those hopes quickly.

Adepoju Adebawore brought down Pribula for a sack on first down and then Taylor Wein and Gracen Halton combined on a sack on third down to force the Tigers’ sixth punt of the day.

All four of the Sooners’ sacks came from the defensive front.

The Sooners were called for a critical penalty early on the sidelines after coming up with a big third-down stop. Adebawore was initially announced as the offender, but apparently the call was later switched to being against Danny Okoye.

Linebackers: B+

Owen Heinecke once again was strong, leading the team with 10 tackles and adding a quarterback hurry.

Kip Lewis had eight tackles and a pass breakup, and Kendal Daniels had seven and a breakup.

The group played a big role in limiting Hardy as well.

Secondary: A-

The end numbers for Kevin Coleman Jr. were good — seven catches for 115 yards — but the Sooners kept the Tigers from breaking the big play.

Eli Bowen and Jacobe Johnson came up with big interceptions off Pribula, and the Sooners have won the turnover battle 8-2 over the last three games.

Late in the third quarter, Sooners’ safety Reggie Powers III was ejected for targeting after launching to hit Coleman in the facemask. Powers will miss the first half of next week's game vs. LSU.

But on the next play, Johnson turned at the last moment to intercept a long pass from Pribula and give OU the ball back.

Safety Robert Spears-Jennings broke up two passes,. He was injured diving after a pass early but quickly returned.

Special teams: A

Peyton Bowen nearly blocked Missouri’s first field goal try.

He didn’t miss the second time.

Bowen came off the edge and dove to block Robert Meyer’s kick midway through the second quarter.

The block came three plays before Mateer’s long touchdown to Sategma.

Tate Sandell was once again money, making a 45-yarder on the first drive of the second half to extend the lead to 17-6. Sandell has made 22 consecutive tries since missing his first kick of the season.

Then there’s Grayson Miller, who had nine punts for an average 44.9 yards, with five punts of 50 or more yards and pinning the Tigers inside the 20 four times.